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06/24/2010 - San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Sharks have re-signed forwards Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski.
Marleau has spent his entire 12-season career with San Jose while Pavelski has played four seasons in the NHL, all with the Sharks.
"We are very pleased that Patty and Joe have committed to this organization now and in the future," said San Jose general manager Doug Wilson. "They expressed a strong belief in the direction this franchise is heading but also understand the challenges to keeping a talented group like ours together."
Marleau had a career-high 44 goals last season and added 39 assists while playing in all 82 games. In San Jose's run to the conference finals, he had eight goals and five assists.
He ranks first in club history in goals (320), assists (373), points (693), games (953) and several other categories.
Pavelski had 25 goals and 26 assists over 67 games last season and added nine goals and eight assists over 15 playoff games. He missed 15 games early in the season with a broken foot.
Over 275 games, he has 83 goals and 95 assists and has added 15 goals and 13 assists in 40 playoff contests.
<< Paraguay eliminates unbeaten Kiwis, wins Group F
Polokwane, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paraguay wrapped up first place in
Group F on Thursday with a 0-0 tie against New Zealand at Peter Mokaba Stadium
in the FIFA World Cup.
Paraguay was unbeaten in the group with a win and two draws,
<< Slovakia eliminates defending champs Italy, advances
Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robert Vittek scored goals on
each side of the half as Slovakia held on late to down the defending FIFA
World Cup champions Italy, 3-2, at Ellis Park Stadium in Group F action on
Thursda
<< Murray marches on at the AEC
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Heavy British crowd favorite Andy
Murray was an easy second-round winner Thursday at Wimbledon.
The Australian Open runner-up Murray mauled Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen,
6-3, 6-4, 6-2, playing in
<< Rangers go for 11th straight win, sweep of Pirates
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers didn't skip a beat without their red-hot
slugger Josh Hamilton in the lineup on Wednesday. Tonight Hamilton will try to
extend his career-best hitting streak, while the Rangers go after their 11th
straigh
Brazil, Portugal battle for top spot in Group G >>
Durban, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brazil has already secured a spot in
the second round after wins in its first two Group G matches, while Portugal
is on the verge of advancing following a 7-0 destruction of North Korea last
time ou
Ravens bring in veteran CB Walt Harris >>
Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Ravens have agreed to terms
on a one-year contract with cornerback Walt Harris.
Harris missed the 2009 season while recovering from a torn ACL suffered in
offseason workouts with San Fr
Sharapova wins second-rounder at Wimbledon >>
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former champion Maria Sharapova was a
straight-set second-round victor Thursday at Wimbledon.
The 2004 titlist handled Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-1, 6-4 on Court 1 at
the famed All England Club.
Ivory Coast needs miracle to advance to next stage >>
Nelspruit, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - North Korea and Ivory Coast square
off in their final Group G match of the FIFA World Cup on Friday at Mbombela
Stadium.
Ivory Coast needs to win by a large margin as well as get some help
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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